Carson City Magazine

The year was 1983. It was a time of Michael Jackson, Sally Ride, and Chicken McNuggets. And it was also the year that Carson TV Cable tried to launch a TV show all about Carson City, one that would highlight events, concerts and people around town. It was called “Carson City Magazine,” and it was a bold idea that maybe was before its time for this little town of 35,000 people. As far as I can tell, only the pilot was produced. There wasn’t enough interest to keep it going.

This show would have been long gone and forgotten if not for YouTube.

This is a nice little slice out of time. It may seem like the 80s weren’t that long ago, but this show is 28 years old now, and things like the cars and clothes are starting to look a bit dated. The most interesting part is probably the footage of driving down Carson Street and seeing how much has changed. Most of downtown hasn’t changed drastically in the last 30 years, but a few things do stand out. The old A&W at Carson and 10th (where Red’s is now) can be seen, and the gas station that used to sit at Carson and 9th. You also get a long lingering look at the State Legislature building before it was remodeled in the 90s, and the Capitol Plaza before the Supreme Court was built. If you look for it you can even see the Nye Building in the background.

This gives me the urge to go out with my video camera and film a drive down Carson Street today, so that in another 30 years people can put it on their holographic projection screens and get a glimpse of what Carson City looked like before the Robot Wars happened.

Thanks to Pony Bob Wilkie for finding this footage and bringing it to my attention.